Managing Artwork and Brand Assets So Reorders Always Match
By The Velocity Wear Team
Keep one folder that is the single source of truth, hold vector masters rather than exports, name files so the correct version is obvious without opening them, and archive the approved proof with every order you place. That is the whole system. It is not sophisticated, and organisations that do it get matching reorders for years while ones that do not spend every reorder rebuilding a decision they already made.
One Location, and Everyone Knows Which One
The most common failure is not a missing file, it is four copies of the same logo in four places with no way to tell which is current. Pick one location, make it the only place anyone is allowed to take artwork from, and delete or clearly archive everything else. If a colleague can find a logo in a shared inbox, on a shared drive and in a presentation, they will eventually take the wrong one, and it will be the low-resolution one.
Vector Masters, Everything Else Is a Derivative
Hold the mark as a vector file, an AI, EPS, PDF or SVG, and treat every PNG or JPEG as a disposable export you can regenerate. Vector scales without loss, which is what makes it usable for anything from a cap front to a full back print. A logo pulled from a website will be the wrong size, the wrong colour space and often has a background baked in. If your organisation genuinely has no vector master, get one redrawn once and be done with it, rather than paying for the problem in every job.
Name Files So the Right One Is Obvious
Naming is unglamorous and it is where most of the value sits. A name should say what the mark is, which variant it is, and when it was approved, without anyone opening it. Avoid "final", because there is no such thing, and avoid the initials of whoever last touched it, because that person will leave.
- Lead with the brand or sub-brand, then the variant: full lockup, mark only, mono, reversed.
- Include the approval date in ISO form so files sort chronologically on their own.
- Never use "final", "latest", "new" or "use this", since all four stop being true the moment a newer file exists.
- Keep the file extension honest, and store the vector master and its exports in clearly separated folders.
- Add a short read-me in the folder saying which file to send a supplier for print and which for embroidery.
Version Control Without Software
You do not need a system. You need a rule: superseded files move to an archive folder immediately, they never sit alongside the current one. Anything in the live folder is by definition correct. This is far more reliable than version numbers, because version numbers require people to read carefully and archiving requires them only to look in the right folder.
“"Nobody sends the wrong logo on purpose. They send the one that was easiest to find."”
Digitised Embroidery Files Belong With the Job
Embroidery does not use your logo directly. The artwork is converted into a stitch file, and that file encodes decisions about stitch direction, density, underlay and how fine detail was simplified. Two people digitising the same logo will not produce identical results. That means the stitch file is part of your brand asset set in practice, and losing it means the next run is re-interpreted rather than reproduced. Keep a note of which supplier holds the stitch file and which approved sample it corresponds to.
The Approval Trail Is an Asset Too
When a proof is approved, save it. Not just the artwork, the actual proof showing the garment, the colour, the placement and the size. Store it with the order reference and the date. Six months later, when someone says the print looks bigger than last time, you have a fact instead of two opinions. This also matters because production starts at artwork approval rather than order placement, so the approval is the moment the specification is locked and it deserves a record.
Decide Who Can Approve, and Keep It Short
Two named approvers is usually right: one who owns the brand and one who owns the budget. More than that and proofs sit unanswered while everyone assumes someone else has looked. Fewer than that and approvals stall when one person is on leave. Write the names into the process rather than leaving it as an understanding, and give the approvers a checklist so they are looking at colour, size, placement and spelling rather than forming a general impression.
Hand It Over Before You Need To
Clubs, schools and small teams lose their artwork when the person who held it moves on. Make the handover part of the role, not an afterthought: the folder, the specification sheet, the approved proofs and the note of which supplier holds the stitch file. The free Design Studio is a useful place to lay out and preview a placement when you are checking that a handed-over specification still produces what you expect, and the instant price calculator lets a new organiser sanity-check quantities without waiting on anyone. The point of all of it is that a reorder should be a five-minute job for a person who has never placed one before.